Franklin & Marshall College will kick off its Week Without Violence campaign by welcoming Professor Diane Rosenfeld, of Harvard University School of Law; she will give a lecture, "Standing Up for Sexual Respect," at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, in F&M's Stahr Auditorium, Stager Hall, 415 Harrisburg Ave.
On Thursday, Oct. 15, she will show her award-winning film, "Rape Is ..." at noon, also in Stahr Auditorium.
Both events are free and open to the public.
"[Sexual assault] is a huge problem on campuses," Rosenfeld said. "We need to look at this and ask, 'Why aren't we doing something about this?' "
Rosenfeld and her students have created a model policy for adjudicating sexual assault cases on campuses.
"We need to get more peer-to-peer interaction to counteract how our culture promotes degrading women," Rosenfeld said. "This is a chance to open new conversations, and to let students know there is a place to go on campus."
Rosenfeld teaches courses on gender violence, law and social justice, Title IX and theories of sexual coercion.
She supervises clinical students who work on women's rights legal advocacy and gender justice, particularly in the areas of campus sexual assault and improving the criminal justice response to domestic violence. Additionally, she teaches reading groups on "Feminist Jurisprudence and the Common Law" and "Power, Beauty, Sex and Violence." Prior to teaching at Harvard, Rosenfeld served as senior counsel to the Violence Against Women Office of the U.S. Department of Justice.
She is a frequent public speaker on various legal and social policy issues concerning violence against women, and she has served as a commissioner on the Governor's Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence in Massachusetts.
Jan Masland, director of health and wellness at F&M and campus sexual assault victims advocate, said Rosenfeld will meet with the many groups sponsoring the event, as well as faculty.
"I think this will be a wonderful event for both the campus and the public," Masland said. "It is great to have an expert on campus [who] is a nationally-known advocate for sexual assault victims."
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Alice Drum Women's Center; SAVE, or Sexual Assault and Violence Education; CLAS, or Center for Liberal Arts and Society; and the KnowHow Coalition.
Rosenfeld's appearance is one of many events that are being held throughout the year to commemorate F&M's 40th anniversary of coeducation.
For more information, call Judy Pehrson, 291-3956, or visit web1.fandm.edu/calendar/detail.php?id=222.